Be careful what you wish for!

As a caveat going into this story, I was a rather naive child and often wished for stupid things, innocently desiring adventure in my own life, not tragedy in the lives of others.

I grew up watching old black and white movies, many of which were set during WWI, WWII, or the Great Depression. Of course, we all know how Hollywood romanticizes everything. As child, I don't think I realized this. I wanted so much to live through a war and a depression. I so admired the people who survived those times and I wanted the chance to prove I could do it too. I remember being really excited during Desert Storm - I was all of 10 years old and glued to the TV screen. When images of the POWs began to flash on the screen, my view of war changed. The reality of it finally hit me. People get hurt and people die. War is not simply a good setting for a grand adventure. When the next war in Iraq started, I was older and could actually understand the implications. I wanted so much to go over there and be a part of it, and thankfully, had the opportunity to do that. What I didn't realize going into it was how much more real the war would become to me. The places they talk about on the news are places I have seen - I worshiped in those chapels, ran on those streets, worked out in those gyms, ate in those DFACs - they are REAL places. And the people are real too - everyone from the Ugandans who worked checkpoint security, to the KBR employees, the Iraqi police, and the American Soldiers. Suddenly, when I got news reports of bombings, it was no longer a question of numbers for me, but of names. Who was it? Did someone I know just die over there?!

This morning, as I scanned news articles to see what I had missed over the crazy weekend, I saw headlines with phrases like "Black Sunday" and instantly thought of my childhood wish to live through a "great depression." Now that I understand what a depression is and does, I seriously hope it doesn't get anywhere near there. As I read the articles, I could help but think I ought to be more careful about what I wish for because sometimes those wishes come true. Maybe someday I will learn to think about others before I start wishing for a tragedy... or better yet, maybe I will just not wish for tragedy at all. I really have to wonder sometimes, what is WRONG with me?! Right now I am just praying that the current economic downturn will turn around and will not hurt too many people in the process.

To kill or not to kill...

I love this country and the men and women who fight for her. What I don’t like are the many news stories that try to make our heroes out to be the “bad guys.” Yes, they are human, and they make mistakes from time to time. What I don’t get is the lack of gratitude I sense from the liberal media here. I am so thankful to each and every one of the men and women who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan because I know that while they are fighting the enemy over there, I am safer here. I've seen many of our guys over there in their element. I've seen the dumb things they do to keep themselves amused while waiting for the next mission. I've come face to face with the egos of guys who actually kinda deserve to have big egos. And I've seen the commitment of guys who don’t necessarily agree with this war or the decisions of the current administration. Unlike our extremist enemies, our guys do not go over there with a desire for martyrdom. They hope to return to the USA in one piece. However, they join the armed forces, knowing that they might be called upon to pay the ultimate price.

I have been reading Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell. It is the story of a SEAL team in Afghanistan in 2005. It is a rather incredible story, but I can’t help but think that if not for the bleeding-heart liberals and their friends, the U.S. media, 19 men would still be alive. I just don’t understand… we train young men to fight and kill, and then put restrictions on how and when, while the enemy has no such rules of engagement. We put them in a terrible situation and ask them to make impossible decisions. What ever happened to chevaunchee - total war? War was never meant to be a gentleman’s game. There was a time when anything went. Isn't that how we got the phrase “all’s fair in love and war”? Not anymore. Now we fight according to the "rules," while the enemy kills us by any means possible. And what gets me more than anything, is that even after we fight “fair” and capture and try an enemy in a court of law, the liberals STILL complain.

Going back to Lone Survivor, there were a couple of quotes that really spoke to this topic. At one point, several goat herders crossed paths with the SEAL team. The team had to make a decision about what to do with these guys. The following is the rationale used by one of the members:

If we kill these guys we have to be straight about it. Report what we did. We can’t sneak around this. Just so you all understand, their bodies will be found, the Taliban will use it to the max. They’ll get it in the papers, and the U.S. liberal media will attack us without mercy. We will almost certainly be charged with murder. ~Mike Murphy

I think it is sad that our soldiers have to think like that. It is decisions made like that that cost us lives. After things went badly, Marcus, the “lone survivor” reflects on how that decision has affected him and will continue to affect him for the rest of his life:

No night passes when I don’t wake in a cold sweat thinking of those moments on that mountain. I’ll never get over it. I cannot get over it. The deciding vote was mine, and it will haunt me till they rest me in an East Texas grave. ~Marcus Luttrell

The media can continue to bash the Bush administration all they want, but they should know this at least: they are not guiltless in the war; they also have blood on their hands.

This has GOT to be a good sign...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington. (Reuters)

Before now, there has been no mention of the US ever leaving... not by the Iraqis anyway (let me clarify, not by the Iraqis we are backing).

While I support the war effort and our soldiers, marines, etc, over there, I will be very happy to see them come home (or in the case of some, to see them not have to go back for a third or fourth tour).

God bless our troops! And God bless America!